Saturday, April 30, 2016

That Green Thumb Fairy got me good! It took TEN days for the sprouts to appear. One even pushed up so hard the soil went over the top of the container onto the counter. Now, please don't think I grow these to eat, though, with care, they are edible. I just like to watch the progress of nature. I found this ad and it amused me. THREE beans for sale! (They DO grow this large!)

Well they grow much better to great sizes in more southern states and in other countries. I don't care. A foot long bean is good enough for me. Just waiting for warmer weather to arrive here!

I took these pictures today, though they popped out of the soil yesterday.

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

I'm bored already. Need to really find something that grabs me more. The butterfly didn't do it. This was an inexpensive project for sure. Used ONLY paper, scissors and glue plus a couple of buttons that were on hand. Time was the only cost. Two-morning venture. Suggestions???

Monday, April 25, 2016

I have a friend who makes magnificent albums through the scrapbooking process. She really is organized, creative and inspired. The latest ones are family trees with information, photos, and appropriate embellishments. What I'm getting to is that she give me her left-over paper! Oh YES! After refurbishing and repairing and rebuilding my old and damaged family albums, I am joyful to be free now to move on to do something that is fun!

I saw on the internet some paper flowers that seemed simple and have made a few today. One sheet of the scrapbooking paper was cut into strips and these stiff old fingers made flowers! I still have 6 strips left and then will try another sheet. It is fun for me and very relaxing. No pressure. Now to find out how to make leaves. I have an empty metal wreath that might be just the thing for mounting them.

I do not like to follow directions. I never have so mine might be "different." We shall see.....

Do you know that if I had a solid large wall, about 6 feet tall, I would love to apply the sheets in a crazy quilt manner all over it? It would be my happy/crazy place for escape. I can see it now.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

There is not much room here to grow vines that like to climb, but that mischievous Green Thumb Fairy struck me again!

If you were following me in 2012, I posted the first installment of how this all began. At first we had no idea what the large vine with the humungous bean was because it came as a house gift to a beach neighbor. One bean in a can. She planted it. It grew. She gave me one of the two pods.

2012

The next year I gave her back some of the seeds which I had dried and saved. She planted again and they grew wonderfully long and produced many large pods. She gave me a choice and I saved another pod.

2013

Then I gave some of those seeds to a different beach friend. Hers thrived as well. She saved seeds and intended to plant them in 2014. She planted moonflower seeds instead! Luckily she found the bean seeds she had saved and planted them last year.

2015

She sent me some and I thought I'd try again as we sold our place in the south. My first plants froze when we left them in Pennsylvania. Here I go again! 2016 beans are in the process - dang that fairy - I just couldn't resist AND...I HAVE PLANS! I hope some will germinate as I have never started any using this method. We shall see. This is what I did today!

soda bottles cut and hole drilled in cap

Clothesline wick should work

Big mess! too cold out today to work there

Beans soaked overnight and nicked

Sitting in sunny window waiting for germinationPlease click on image to view larger

Sunday, April 17, 2016

Yes, warm sunny weather has arrived. We took the cover off of the porch swing, blew out the area, set up. How nice to have the porch back in order. The growing things are still slow and a bit damaged, but will recuperate. The cabin needs complete staining. It has only been done once it its lifetime! Looking very old - like us!

Thursday, April 14, 2016

AKA - Magnetic Resonance Imaging. I just experienced my first one. Due to the need of seeing what is happening to my back which is starting to be disabling, my doctor of many years suggested this. It may determine exactly why my sciatica and spinal stenosis is growing more and more painful and I’m feeling so angry because I’m not programed for inactivity.

Once a year I have a general checkup after blood work is done, and the only thing ever found is a bit of high blood pressure. All systems are GO! except for the pain which starts in my lower back and runs all the way down one leg and it is constant. I’m NOT a “pill popper” and there is very little chance I ever will be - but DARN!

So, back to my experience. A good thing is that our local hospital is about three and one half miles towards town. After filling out a life health history sheet I was escorted into the back room. Since I had no metal in my underwear, outerwear or footwear, I didn’t have to change into the “bare-my-bottom” nightie. The technician (oh my gosh how young she was!) removed my tiny gold wire earrings with the little ball as I never take them out. She also reinserted them for me after the scan was complete. Sweet!

She explained the procedure, established the fact that I am not claustrophobic in small spaces and assisted me onto the machine. Adjustments of my body and pillows were made and a soft alert/alarm ball was put into one of my hands which were crossed on my chest. I was to squeeze this if I panicked. A set of large padded earphones was placed on my head to protect my ears. I was offered a choice of music, but I declined. I wanted to hear this big boy perform for the entire twenty minute procedure.

After taking a deep breath, I dove into IMAGINATION LAND. Come along.......

Now picture this as you first listen to regular and strong beats: A dark skin man wearing only a breechcloth dances in a bent over stance, arms waving above his chest and knees pumping up and down while another fellow thumps on an empty hollow log - for a long time. Then listen to the steam engine coming down the tracks from the other side of the mountain getting closer and closer. Next hear the sound of machine gun fire, at first intermittent and then getting louder and more regular and constant as you watch the soldier lying closest to you in the darkness firing. Without thinking, you suddenly hear the machine gun noises turn into jackhammers within a drum, getting louder and louder. A large bass violin is being tuned and the bow never stops its travel across the strings. One tone. One long tone. Another is now doing the same thing in the background. OR…it might have been a stuck key on a pipe organ! I wasn’t sure.

I vacated the sensory world for a couple of minutes while having to staunchly suppress a sneeze and also realized my right hand had fallen asleep. I then returned to having my brain become fully stimulated again and kept occupied until the end of the procedure. I survived. It wasn’t frightening just noisy. BANG!

After returning home I then did some research on those sounds. There are many "out there." The linkbelow is a small 42 second sample. It is missing some of the ones I heard.

Tuesday, April 12, 2016

Bleak! That is what the weather has been like here. The good news it that the sun might show itself at the end of the week. In the meantime, I am biding my time fooling around with more graphics. Please bear with me until I have something interesting to say or show. Thanks.

Monday, April 4, 2016

Another Wacom Lite picture. This is FUN! It's really meant to draw and paint but I'm not so good at that. I will have to buckle down and try - at least!

"Pink Ripples"

AND...the regional TV news and weather station posted my 'droopy daffodil' photo on their Facebook page. I sent it in because it was a sad happening to me and to others in my area. We all hope these spring flowers can recover. Weather is still cold here.

About Me

I really really like to observe and learn about nature - humans, animals, fish, flowers and more. I do a lot of research on my computer, learning...learning...learning. It makes me feel good to learn about the world around me. A newer project is photography and I'm experimenting with a digital camera. Sure wish I would have started this many years ago. I also like to write memory stories; I write about recent happenings in my daily life, and some of my thoughts. I like to read mysteries, quotes and some poetry. I enjoy solitude an am not very social.